Three 4g download speed.

[scannerman2021]

Hi all
So here is my situation I have relations and they live in the sticks,The only signal they can get is three network 4g but the speeds are very bad,They tested early in the morning and late at night  and they get around 25/30 mbps download not sure what the upload is but most of the day download speeds are 5/8 mbps.They have a 4g antenna on the chimney and its pointed to the only mast in the area which is about 1km away from the house.So I brought down my huawei router and poynting xpol 2 directional antenna the weekend to test out myself and I set it up and using the huactrl app the only band I could get to work was band 20 800mhz, and the results were pretty much the same as there's,that might explain the low download speeds as the mast could be congested,I'm just curious to know is there any other things I could do or tips to improve the download speeds and keep it steady any help would be appreciated thank you.

[Seán]

Based on getting similar speeds with your own router, unfortunately this is a very good indication that the mast is heavily congested. With the mast just 1km away, the router is most likely picking as good signal as it can attain, especially with the Chimney mounted antenna.

You can try setting the router to 3G mode to see if it performs any better during the day. I have come across some areas with a barely useable 4G connection, but could get 8-12Mbps over 3G, as most routers and phones automatically connect over 4G. I suggest using the M-LAB or Google speed test for checking the speed as it's better able to measure what the connection can sustain during the test, rather than what the speed gets up to as what Ookla's speed test reports.

For streaming services such as Netflix or Sky on Demand, the best suggestion I have is to plan head on what to watch, i.e. pick a selection of TV shows or movies to watch and have it download these overnight. This way they can watch them in the evening without it buffering, then have it download the following episodes or other movies to have ready for the following evening. Similarly for Windows /software updates, start up the computer first thing in the morning, do a check for updates and let it download them while having breakfast, etc.

[scannerman2021]

Based on getting similar speeds with your own router, unfortunately this is a very good indication that the mast is heavily congested.  With the mast just 1km away, the router is most likely picking as good signal as it can attain, especially with the Chimney mounted antenna.

You can try setting the router to 3G mode to see if it performs any better during the day.  I have come across some areas with a barely useable 4G connection, but could get 8-12Mbps over 3G, as most routers and phones automatically connect over 4G.  I suggest using the M-LAB or Google speed test for checking the speed as it's better able to measure what the connection can sustain during the test, rather than what the speed gets up to as what Ookla's speed test reports. 

For streaming services such as Netflix or Sky on Demand, the best suggestion I have is to plan head on what to watch, i.e. pick a selection of TV shows or movies to watch and have it download these overnight.  This way they can watch them in the evening without it buffering, then have it download the following episodes or other movies to have ready for the following evening.  Similarly for Windows /software updates, start up the computer first thing in the morning, do a check for updates and let it download them while having breakfast, etc.

Hi all
I visited my relations over the weekend and brought my cpe pro 1 router with me ,tested my 3 sim and there was a big improvement was getting 20/30 dl speed was fluctuating but was more steady than there b525 router with external antenna the most they get is like 20dl and falls over different times of day I'm thinking the cpe pro has a better chipset and higher spec what's giving more decent download speeds,I also put my eir sim in and actually got a connection of 3 out of 5 bars on 800mhz dl was 10mbps I went for a drive with the eir sim in my phone and approx 1.5 to 2km away I was picking up 4g+  done a speedtest was like 50/60 dl,So any suggestions or any hope of getting them speeds at the relations house,I'm thinking of setting up my poynting directional antenna and hooking it up to the cpe pro to test or am I wasting my time I'm not sure what the range is on the poynting either.Any suggestions,ideas,information would be appreciated 
Thanks.

[Seán]

If it's the 5G Huawei CPE Pro 1, then its antenna ports will only work on the 3.6GHz (5G n78) band. This router only uses its internal antennas for 4G data. The only way to attach antennas for 4G data would be to disassemble the router and run U.fl to SMA pigtails from the mainboard ports that the internal antennas attach to.

I suggest testing the Huawei B525 outside with its internal antennas (set its antenna configuration to Internal or Auto for both ports). If the B525 performs better than when indoors using the external antenna, the antenna is likely defective or facing the wrong direction, such as a new mast gone live in a different direction. For example, I know someone that had a panel antenna fail, i.e. it looked OK on the outside, but when I opened it up to see what was rattling inside, there was just a few rusty pieces of what were antenna elements.

[scannerman2021]

Yes it's the 5g cpe pro 1,The antenna they are currently using is the atk log antenna which I have it facing towards the three mast approx 2km.away,i will give your suggestion a go when I'm down next time,I will test using my poynting xpol antenna also see what results I get not easy as it's a 2 storey house and have to get the lend of a slating ladder as its mounted on the chimney il keep you posted.Thanks sean your a world of knowledge and information.